Nightguard
Nightguards are paladins of a sort; instead of dedicating themselves to righteousness, nightguards dedicate their lives to hunting down and destroying those monsters and forces that threaten civilization. The distinction seems subtle, but is all-important. Nightguards kill monsters, and leave defending the weak to others. Thus while nightguards are sometimes considered paladins, they do not use that title for themselves, and usually encourage others not to as well. Alignment Any lawful (see code of conduct, below). Aura of Law (Ex) A nightguard’s aura of law (see the detect law ''spell) is equal to her class level. This replaces aura of good. '''Gravekeeper’s Blade (Su)' Beginning at 2nd level, weapons and natural attacks wielded by the nightguard gain the ghost touch ''property in addition to any other properties, even if they are not otherwise magical. This replaces lay on hands. '''Aura of Resilience (Su)' At 3rd level, the nightguard and allies within 10 feet of her benefit from a +4 bonus to their AC against critical hit confirmation rolls. This replaces aura of courage. Nemesis (Su) At 3rd level and again every 3 levels thereafter, the nightguard selects a nemesis from the list below. Once made, this choice may not be changed. Some nemeses add additional effects to the nightguard’s smite evil ability. She may only use one such nemesis per smite; she chooses which to use at the time she declares her use of smite evil. At 3rd level the nightguard may choose from the following initial nemeses: * Specter’s Bane: ''Armor and shields worn or wielded by the nightguard gain the ''ghost touch ''property in addition to any other properties, even if they are not otherwise magical. * ''Wolfsbane: ''Weapons and natural attacks wielded by the nightguard are treated as silver in addition to their actual materials for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. * ''Combat Feat: ''The nightguard gains a bonus combat feat. At 6th level, the nightguard adds the following nemeses to the list that may be selected from: * ''Judge: ''The nightguard may smite any non-good creature with her smite evil ability. All other restrictions of smite evil still apply. * ''Exacerbate: ''The nightguard’s smite evil reduces the effects of magical healing used upon its victims by 50%, to a minimum of 1 point of damage healed. * ''Smite: ''The nightguard gains an additional use per day of her smite evil ability. At 9th level, the nightguard adds the following nemeses to the list that may be selected from: * ''Incarcerate: ''Victims of the nightguard’s smite evil have their movement speeds reduced by 15 ft. * ''Demonbane: ''Weapons and natural attacks wielded by the nightguard count as cold iron in addition to their other materials for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, and she deals additional damage equal to her Charisma modifier when making melee attacks against evil-aligned outsiders. * ''Undying Fury: ''The nightguard is not staggered at 0 or fewer hit points (unless another effect would cause her to be staggered) and does not become unconscious when dying. When the nightguard dies, it immediately becomes her turn, interrupting whatever turn is currently ongoing. For this turn, she may act as if she were not dead. No action she takes during this turn can undo or prevent her death. When she completes this turn, she is dead, and the interrupted turn resumes. This does not affect the nightguard’s initiative, should she be raised from the dead during the same encounter. Additionally, undead nightguards who select this ability are no longer destroyed when they reach 0 hit points and must be reduced a number of hit points equal to their Charisma below 0 before they are destroyed. * ''Gravekeeper’s Vigil: ''The bonus to AC granted by the nightguard’s aura of resilience also applies against touch attacks (such as incorporeal touch attacks or rays). * ''Lichbane: ''Victims of the nightguard’s smite evil ability lose access to their highest level of maneuvers, powers, and/or spells known while the effects of the smite persist. At 12th level, the nightguard adds the following nemeses to the list that may be selected from: * ''Weaken: ''Abilities, maneuvers, powers, and spells used by the victims of the nightguard’s smite evil ability suffer a -3 penalty to their save DCs (a successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the nightguard’s class level + her Charisma modifier) reduces this penalty to -1). * ''Condemn: ''Creatures that damage the nightguard with melee attacks or melee touch attacks cannot benefit from healing of any kind for a number of rounds equal to the nightguard’s Charisma modifier. * ''Guilt Wrack: ''Creatures affected by the nightguard’s smite evil ability also become confused for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 her Charisma modifier. * ''Imprison: ''Victims of the nightguard’s smite evil are subjected to a ''dimensional anchor ''effect (no save). This replaces mercies. '''Channel Positive Energy' Nightguards do not gain the ability to channel positive energy. Aura of Resolve (Su) If the Nightguard is undead, she gains positive energy resistance equal to her character level instead of immunity to charm effects. This modifies aura of resolve. Aura of Righteousness (Su) If the Nightguard is undead, she becomes immune to the effects of channel energy, unless she chooses to be affected, instead of immunity to compulsion effects. This modifies aura of righteousness. Immortal Vengeance (Su) At 20th level, the nightguard’s hunt transforms her on a fundamental level. Her DR increases to 10/evil. Victims of her smite evil ability cannot communicate or cast spells with verbal components. Additionally, weapons and natural attacks wielded by the nightguard gain the axiomatic property in addition to their other properties, even if they aren’t otherwise magical. This replaces holy champion. Code of Conduct A nightguard must be of lawful alignment and loses access to all class features if she ceases being lawful until such a time as she becomes lawful again. Additionally, the nightguard’s code requires her to destroy those that threaten or harm the innocent unless those beings can prove that they are no longer a threat to the innocent (she may still choose to destroy such beings), destroy or safely contain artifacts harmful to the innocent, and to actively ensure the safety of lawful societies. ''Ex-nightguards: ''A nightguard who ceases to be lawful or who grossly violates her code of conduct (such as by collaborating with a monster to extort the innocent) loses access to her paladin spells and class features. If she lost access by ceasing to be lawful, her spells and abilities are restored to her when she resumes a lawful alignment. If she violated her code of conduct, the nightguard must seek atonement through the ''atonement ''spell. This replaces the paladin’s code of conduct. Category:Source: Lords of the Night